'A cravat is where it's at'

Hernandez, 22, recently dipped into his own pocket to rent studio time and purchase blank compact disks. He recorded and produced 10 original poems, which he debuted at a recent “album release” party at the Get’n Grounded café in Princess Anne. He estimates he spent several hundred dollars to produce the album.

About 60 people, including fellow students and some UMES faculty members, turned out for the Nov. 9 event. The first 20 fans who showed up for the “open mic – talent show” received a free copy of the 18-minute CD he’s calling “Courageous.”

Hernandez said he's sold an additional 30 disks since the debut.

A senior majoring in business, Hernandez is a regular on a café circuit in the mid-Atlantic region where he and fellow poets deliver their interpretation of life through free-verse poetry. He says he’s performed in front of small, but enthusiastic, crowds in his native Washington, D.C., in Newark, N.J. and New York.

While his poems avoid standard rhyming techniques like the one employed in the headline on this story, listeners, he says, can derive a “rhythm that comes from the way I recite them.” The poems on his debut album are inspired by his Christian faith, “believing in dreams” and his family.

When he enrolled at UMES, Hernandez initially wanted to pursue a degree in graphic design. In fact, he created not only the album cover, but also an attractive poster promoting the Get’n Grounded event, where he doubled as the event’s host.

His long-term goal is to use his business education and become a restaurateur, perhaps owning a café where the next generation of performers could find a place to showcase their talents much the way he does now.